tony-70-667920 This is the only feature directed by Stephen Clarkson. It's hard to see why, as he does a good job, and co-wrote the script with Maisie Sharman. I'm grateful to Renown and their Talking Pictures TV for the chance to see this rare film.A teacher at a south of England girls' school is murdered, and since she had a talent for angering her colleagues, there are plenty of suspects. The investigation is led by Inspector Campbell from Scotland Yard. He's a dour Scot with a chip on his shoulder (he'd definitely have voted for independence!) but fortunately he's played by Gordon Jackson, who's always a sympathetic presence. I saw him play a villain in another Renown offering, I think "The Delavine Affair," and he didn't ring true.One reviewer complained about the cut-glass accents, but given the date and milieu they're to be expected. The Queen still talks like that, and I agree it's irritating, but not as irritating as the inaudibility of so many modern American actors, which makes you wonder why their scriptwriters bothered writing dialogue."Death|" is unusual for a British B of the '50s is that there's some humour. When Campbell asks Miss Shepherd what book she's been reading she says "Death in Seven Hours", the book by Ms Sharman on which this film is based. She then needles the inspector by saying that an amateur sleuth solved the mystery. This gives the audience a clue, as later she solves the mystery before him, though to be fair that's because she'd seen something and not told him about it.All in all, an enjoyable way to spend 64 minutes.

howardmorley I could only award this 1953 film 5/10.As the diner guest in Basil Fawlty's restaurant at "Fawlty Towers" said when asked by Basil "Did he like his meal?" he responded, (the way I felt when I saw this film today with my wife, an ex-teacher at a primary school); "Well it was adequate".So I appear to damn the film with faint praise but look at the obvious production budget.In the year of the coronation most British cinemas showed a cartoon, Pathe news, a "B" feature before "the big "A" picture" and I suspect this would have been a "B" picture then.We must therefore expect cheaper relatively unknown actors/actresses and virtually no locational shots filmed outside the studio system.Indeed the only actors I recognised were:Gordon Jackson, Sam Kydd, Beatrice Varley and Barbara Murray, hardly household names then and probably unknown to our American friends who saw this film.Now having got the carping out of the way did it have some good points?Well yes, the screenwriters managed to keep "whodunnit" right to the end but the motive for murder was not sufficiently evident to me.There would be a job awaiting Miss Shepherd in the police if she wanted to give up music teaching but having teaching in my family, it tends to get into your blood.

kidboots ....so says the poster - in other words, a murder is committed in an all girls school. With a title like "Death Goes to School" full marks to theatre owners, trying to get patrons into the cinemas. Before he was Hudson, the very devoted butler who "knew his place" in the TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs" Gordon Jackson was a familiar face in a score of British films. This movie gave him a rare lead and it is easy to see why (it was a rare lead). Well, he wasn't exactly "Mr. Personality" - he had no quirkiness of character that would make his Inspector Campbell memorable.A body is discovered behind the school playing fields - it is Miss Cooper, a teacher who has no friends at the school, in other words, everyone's a suspect!!! The only clue is a footprint of a size 5 shoe!! Dour Inspector Campbell from Scotland Yard is onto the case right away - and the teachers are onto him too - "he's so big and strong, so masterful" etc and they try to make an impression. As each Mistress is interviewed a picture is drawn of Miss Cooper and it is not pretty - she is hard to get along with, is forever picking fights with the other staff members and seems to have a dislike of children!!!One of the mistresses, Miss Shephard, seems to be the real detective of the movie and armed with inside knowledge from staff and students, has her own ideas about who is the murderer. Her investigations take her out of the school, away from the teachers and into the homes of the parents. Gordon Jackson gives his usual solid, "no frills" performance. Barbara Murray (Miss Shepherd) was a newcomer who went on to have a more productive career in television with shows such as "The Power Game" and "The Plane Makers".

cornico All I can say, is this movie was taken from a book written by the author Stratford Davis - and it didn't do her justice. Yup, a little background. The male name Stratford Davis was actually the pen name of a female with the birth name Maisie Sharman who wrote several books under the male name just so she could be published during the thirties. She later penned several more books under the name Miriam Sharman (last name was real until she married a Bolton in Hampshire, and then went under the name Miriam Bolton for several screenplays for the BBC). The reason I know this trivia about a little known author is simply because she was my great-aunt on my maternal Grandfather's side. I have collected several of her books from her later periods (50's and 60's); and while they would never be on a par with Conan Doyle or P.D. James, I found them enjoyable for a short bout of escapism.